Chapter 12 Section 2. Role Issues

Section 2. Role Issues Our investigation found that on the issue of roles in same-sex sexual behavior, a boundary should be drawn first, that is, the boundary between the active and passive roles in sexual behavior and the male and female roles in gender roles.Because although gay men are different from heterosexual men in their sexual behavior, that is, they sometimes play a passive role, but in terms of gender role identification, there is no significant difference from heterosexual men.Many homosexuals even strive to fully fulfill the social roles of men, which include being husbands, fathers, and carrying out the masculine duties of carrying on the family line.

In same-sex sexual behavior, there are indeed role differences, which are specifically manifested in the fact that some people play the dominant, giving, and active roles, while others play the submissive, receptive, and passive roles.This kind of role distinction can easily be misunderstood as the difference between men and women. Our survey respondents occasionally use such words in their narratives to summarize the difference between active roles and passive roles, but these two types of role concepts are obviously not the same. thing. In the survey, we observed that only a very small number of people in the homosexual group play the active role or the passive role, and the majority of them interchange the two roles.As evidence, there are the following testimonies from the survey respondents: "There are few who are purely active and passive, and most of them play together." "Generally, the roles are exchanged, but there are also fixed male (active) roles and fixed female (passive) roles."

Kinsey has expressed similar thoughts, stating: "Our survey found that in same-sex sexual behavior, the vast majority of men still retain their masculinity and conform to male behavior patterns, and the vast majority of women do the same. Conform to the behavior pattern of women." Freud also pointed out: "This is... a problem with subjective characteristics and sexual attitudes on the other... Although a man clearly shows female attributes in character, can still be heterosexual." (Freud, quoted in Weeks, p. 238) If the above statements are still relatively general, then Kechadoli's data further quantifies the problem.He noted that "approximately half of gay men and three-quarters of heterosexual men display typical male identities, interests, and appearances . Chadori, p. 332) According to this account, at least half of gay men are typically masculine men who differ from heterosexual men only in liking men instead of women.In other words, these gay men do not make themselves effeminate because they like men, but remain fully masculine.Our survey also proves this point.Some respondents mentioned that when a person feels like a woman in his heart and dresses up like a woman, he calls it a "psychopath".This illustrates two problems: first, people who hold this view do not agree with women in their minds, and they do not want to dress up as women; abnormal.

Regarding the complexity of gay male role identification, as Scrutton said: "Gay men treat each other as men, and the complexity lies in the condition that the other party is also required to play the female role." (Scratton Dayton, p. 254) In other words, treating the other person as a man is not consistent with the role that the other person is expected to play.It is still possible to treat the other person as a man when asking the other person to play the female (actually passive) role.Because taking an active or passive role in sexual behavior is not entirely determined by self-gender role identity, most people often switch roles during sex without affecting their gender identity.

Our questionnaire survey data shows that most people play both active and passive roles in sexual relations; followed by those who only play active roles; the number of people who only play passive roles is the least.When answering the question "what role do you like in this relationship", the most people answer "both active and passive"; homosexuals who prefer male roles say: "the general rule is that what he does for you, you What do you do for him. Once I had sex with a man, he finished it for me and asked me to repay, I said I don’t want to do it, he said you just leave after playing! He kicked me while talking, I replied I beat him, turned around and left. A few people saw us fighting and chased me out and asked me what was going on. I said, "Little bastard is dishonest (implying that he wants to have sex with me, I am innocent)." Another A middle-aged homosexual said: "There are some disputes because they don't ejaculate for the other party. Generally, they can take care of the other party. I think we should be conscious, and it is meaningless to care about these things. Although I have no reciprocal obligation for what the other party has done to me, I just You have to repay the same, but you should be conscious.” From this point of view, the exchange of roles and “service” during sexual behavior is indeed a general code of conduct for homosexual sexual relations.

Someone's explanation for the role reversal is: fear of losing the other party.One survey respondent said: "If you find someone who is weak, you will play the active role; if you find someone who is stronger than you, you will play the weaker passive role. They also exchange roles, because they are afraid of losing each other." There is another saying: "People Not only wanting to be satisfied, but also willing to meet other people’s requirements. In this way, both parties will be satisfied. This is like heterosexuality.” Kechardoli proposed that most homosexuals switch roles or do not distinguish roles.But there are also distinctions between active and passive roles, male and female characters.Some people emphasize that they have only one role and never change to another. For example, this is the case in prisons, and it was also the case in ancient times. (Cachadoli, p. 337) Homosexuals in prisons are mostly "situational homosexuals". Most of the homosexual couples among them are the relationship between protector and protected person, rapist and raped person. It's not about love, it's about power, so it's not interchangeable.Some of the ancient homosexuals belonged to the relationship between client and male prostitute, or the relationship between teacher and student (such as ancient Greece), so the roles were not interchanged.

In our survey, we also found some homosexuals who are full of masculinity and never play a passive role; of course, there are very few cases of completely playing a passive role.One respondent stated that his two friends never switched roles, always being female (passive).Another middle-aged homosexual said when asked which role he was accustomed to: "There is a role difference between me and my partner. I am female and he is male." Homosexuals who have been played with by women” obviously formed a sexual orientation that identified with women due to their early experiences. He wrote in the questionnaire: “As far as I can remember, I started to like to play with male penises when I was about 18 to 20 years old. I often Peeking at a man's penis until he thinks of a man and wants to sleep with a man. Especially a tall man with a thick penis stimulates me the most....... The evidence is that this man was once dealt with for sodomy, but later proved by the hospital The punishment was lifted after he took only a passive role in such relationships.

Regarding the issue of which of the two roles is higher or lower in a homosexual relationship, the vast majority of survey respondents hold the view that "there is no distinction between the two", and only a few people think that "the active role is higher than the passive role." A homosexual who obviously likes male roles said: "I like the active role in sexual behavior, and I am unwilling to be a passive role. The status of satisfying others is low, and the status of being satisfied by others is high..." Young, good conditions, The role being pursued by others has a high status; those who are older and in poor conditions have a low status pursuing others.Therefore, there are sayings such as "people who have just entered the Tao are generally unwilling to accept anal sex, and feel that they are at a disadvantage", and "young people are not even willing to do oral sex for others".

This concept is not accepted by most homosexuals.They believe that the division of roles in sexual relations is not obvious, and there is no distinction between active and passive roles.Some people said: "I don't think the active and passive roles are higher or lower." Others said: "The two are equal. I don't suffer, and you don't suffer either. You can't play others by yourself, and you don't want others to play yourself. I don’t look down on people who want to play female roles.” Based on the findings of the survey, we have the following conclusions on the issue of roles in gay sexual relationships: In the gay community, there are quite a few people who do not want fixed roles.Their views on their sexual partners in homosexual behavior can be called brotherhood.This concept may be born out of the way men of the same generation in society get along.

When a homosexual is eager to get the love of the person he likes, he will often say, "You can do anything to me", and please the person with the sexual behavior the other person likes.The meaning of this kind of behavior is actually similar to the essence of women in traditional culture, that is, to make physical sacrifices in exchange for the status in the other party's mind.Therefore, in a practical sense, there is nothing wrong with treating this type of passive role as a passive role and the other party as a male role.However, modern science has proved that women are not weaker than men in obtaining physical perception. The development of modern concepts also opposes confining women in an asexual state and making them wait for men to develop sexually.So we prefer not to use the concept of male and female roles, but to use the concept of active and passive roles.

In engaging in this discussion of roles, it is useful to recall the historical dispute between anthropology and eugenics.According to the concept of eugenics, mental character can be inherited as much as physical traits.From the idea that flawless heredity and correct development necessarily lead to masculine and feminine roles, homosexuality is unnatural. In researching the views of older sexologists, we found that some people were influenced by such views.For example, Freud believes that gay men are men who stay in the stage of anal sexual desire, and some people divide gays into male roles and female roles.All these arguments are far-fetched.It is true that some homosexuals get pleasure from anal sex, but the significance of instant pleasure in sexual life should not be exaggerated, so this instant pleasure can be obtained in a very simple way.It’s not just a homosexual who said to us: What’s meaningful in sex life is not the moment, but the whole process, including pursuit, flirting, mutual caress, etc. Communication and sharing are very important components. In the debate with eugenics, anthropologist Boas pointed out: "All complex activities are determined by society"; "In the vast healthy population, social stimulation is far more effective than biological mechanisms." (Transfer Cited in Freeman, p. 33) On the cornerstone of these arguments, cultural anthropology stands.Looking at the issue of homosexual sexual roles from this point of view, we get the idea that sexual roles are primarily social roles, not defined by genitals and genetics.When examining all human behaviors, the zoology component only accounts for a very small proportion, and more cultural factors should be the things acquired later.Therefore, the role that homosexuals play in their sexuality must never be equated with their gender and social roles.